Ramelton couple Myrtle and Alan Doherty have collected a record number of nappies and items for the children of Vesnova, Belarus this January.

A big community effort last weekend saw a 40ft lorry being packed full of donations from Donegal to improve the lives of hundreds of special needs children. From nappies, children’s clothes, toiletries and vital medications, the number of essential goods sent from Myrtle and Alan’s home jumps higher each year.

Donations flood in from all over Donegal every January to support the Doherty’s annual charity mission. This time, the number of nappies collected has reached a massive total of 85,000!

After collecting over 20,000 more nappies that last year, Myrtle said this year’s appeal was another huge success.

She thanked everyone who was involved in collecting the donations which make a massive difference to so many young people’s lives.

Myrtle said: “This year we collected 85,000 nappies, about 4,000 bags of clothes and shoes and bedding and toys, wheelchairs, walking aids, crutches, zimmer frames and dozens of boxes of toiletries and wipes and vital medications.

“Thank you to the ladies who organised collections around the county, Edel McElhinney, Frances Moore, Rachelle Mc Menamin, Orla Simpson, Patricia McKemey, Shirley Sterritt, Rhona Crossan.

“Thanks to Lisa Mc Daid and her family for the huge amount of money raised in Castlefin .

“Thanks to Martin Anderson for allowing people to drop off nappies and toiletries at Sonder for us.

“Thank you to Joe Sonia Lynch for helping Alan bring nappies from Aldi yesterday morning.

“Thank you to everyone who came along to help load the Lorry this morning, your help was very much appreciated. To Jim Kavanagh for all his help, a big thank you.

“All these donations will help make a huge difference to the people of Belarus.”

The lorry of donations from Donegal will be driven to the Chernobyl Kilkenny Outreach Group, before going directly to the Vesnova orphanage and other childcare centres in the area.